SynthesisPloS one2014
The common traits of the ACC and PFC in anxiety disorders in the DSM-5: meta-analysis of voxel-based morphometry studies.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 80 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
80 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 172 citations in OpenAlex.
- Grey matter structural alterations in anxiety disorders: a voxel-based meta-analysis.Brain imaging and behavior · 2024Pooled it
- You say 'prefrontal cortex' and I say 'anterior cingulate': meta-analysis of spatial overlap in amygdala-to-prefrontal connectivity and internalizing symptomology.Translational psychiatry · 2016Pooled it
- An experimental test of the fetal programming hypothesis: Can we reduce child ontogenetic vulnerability to psychopathology by decreasing maternal depression?Development and psychopathology · 2018Trial
- Neural circuitry of emotion regulation: Effects of appraisal, attention, and cortisol administration.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2017Trial
- In relation to anxiety severity, puberty moderates functional connectivity between the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex for negative relative to neutral stimuli during an emotional categorization task.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Cerebral metabolic patterns onEuropean journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2026Article
- Personality and cortical architecture in premenstrual dysphoric disorder.Archives of women's mental health · 2026Article
- Trait- versus state- grey matter volume alterations in premenstrual dysphoric disorder.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Clinical features and genetic mechanisms of anxiety, fear, and avoidance: A comprehensive review of five anxiety disorders.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Review
- Prelimbic Cortex Activity Predicts Anxiety-Like Behavior in the Elevated Plus Maze.The European journal of neuroscience · 2025Article
- A Physiological Approach to Vocalization and Expanding Spoken Language for Adolescents with Selective Mutism.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Shared and distinct morphometric similarity network abnormalities in generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder and social anxiety disorder.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Association between inflammatory markers (SII and SIRI) and anxiety levels in Parkinson's disease.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Behavioral disorders in multiple sclerosis: a comprehensive review.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Review
- Graph analysis of guilt processing network highlights links with subclinical anxiety and self-blame.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2024Article
- Brain structural and functional abnormalities in affective network are associated with anxious depression.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Interleaved TMS/fMRI shows that threat decreases dlPFC-mediated top-down regulation of emotion processing.NPP - digital psychiatry and neuroscience · 2024Article
- Enhanced interhemispheric resting-state functional connectivity of the visual network is an early treatment response of paroxetine in patients with panic disorder.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2024Article
- Heterogeneous Brain Atrophy Sites in Anxiety Disorders Map to a Common Brain Network.Depression and anxiety · 2024Article
- Perineuronal Nets Alterations Contribute to Stress-Induced Anxiety-Like Behavior.Molecular neurobiology · 2024Article
20 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe core domains of social anxiety disorder (SAD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (PD) with and without agoraphobia (GA), and specific phobia (SP) are cognitive and physical symptoms that are related to the experience of fear and anxiety. It remains unclear whether these highly comorbid conditions that constitute the anxiety disorder subgroups of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders--Fifth Edition (DSM-5) represent distinct disorders or alternative presentations of a single underlying pathology.
methodsA systematic search of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies of SAD, GAD, PD, GA, and SP was performed with an effect-size signed differential mapping (ES-SDM) meta-analysis to estimate the clusters of significant gray matter differences between patients and controls.
resultsTwenty-four studies were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Reductions in the right anterior cingulate gyrus and the left inferior frontal gyrus gray matter volumes (GMVs) were noted in patients with anxiety disorders when potential confounders, such as comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD), age, and antidepressant use were controlled for. We also demonstrated increased GMVs in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in comorbid depression-anxiety (CDA), drug-naïve and adult patients. Furthermore, we identified a reduced left middle temporal gyrus and right precentral gyrus in anxiety patients without comorbid MDD.
conclusionOur findings indicate that a reduced volume of the right ventral anterior cingulate gyrus and left inferior frontal gyrus is common in anxiety disorders and is independent of comorbid depression, medication use, and age. This generic effect supports the notion that the four types of anxiety disorders have a clear degree of overlap that may reflect shared etiological mechanisms. The results are consistent with neuroanatomical DLPFC models of physiological responses, such as worry and fear, and the importance of the ventral anterior cingulate (ACC)/medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in mediating anxiety symptoms.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.